Phantom Limbs
by yaoifan555
Summary: Edward has a medical problem one that interrupts his everyday life. can Roy help him? what about Edwards secret dream? when an angry fans boyfriend attacks the celebrity only a best friend would take the shot. but what if someone doesn't want him to die?
1. Chapter 1

Disclamer: I wouldn't be writing on this site ifI owned the anime...so leave me alone.

Roy sat at his desk avoiding his paperwork as usual. The papers all looked the same to him. Blah blah blah finances blah blah alchemy reports blah blah Fullmetals medical status. Wait a sec. Medical stats? Why were these here? Just as Roy was about to start reading the report he heard an extremely loud scream down the hallway.

That sounded like fullmetal. The shrimp never yells like that unless something is really wrong or he's scared.

Roy had gotten to understand the boy a bit more since he had gotten his brothers body back. Edward had become prone to anxiety attacks whenever his brother was in the slightest amount of harm. Including if a wasp was in a 5-foot radius of the younger sibling.

Roy hurried to the young alchemists dorm room when he heard another scream. Many people were looking in the direction of the room wondering what was going on inside. Bursting in the door Mustang saw the older Elric huddled in a corner clutching his automail arm.

"What's wrong Fullmetal?" Roy was close to freaking out at the situation. If this was enough to cause the boy to have an anxiety attack while his brother was in Rizenbul safe as could be than it meant something was seriously wrong.

Edward didn't say anything he just sat there clutching his automail arm and crying. "Please Fullmetal. Tell me what's wrong" Roy asked

"It- it really-" Ed choked back a sob "It really hurts. Make it go away. Please. Just make it stop."

"Make what stop Fullmetal? What is it that hurts?" Roy was surprised at the boys reaction to pain…he had gone through automail attachment as a mere child. Yet this seemed to hurt more for the boy. "Tell me. What hurts?" Roy crouched down to the teens level. Edward didn't even have a chance to make a smart-ass remark about how obvious the answer was before the exhaustion of enduring the pain got to him instead he opted for collapsing into his commanding officer letting the smell of coffee, cologne, and burnt wood engulf his senses. Quietly he muttered.

"You smell really good."


	2. Chapter 2

He couldn't stand the silence of the room. He hated hospitals. They reminded him of death, and that reminded him of the war. It all just brought up memories that bothered him. Memories that he wanted to forget.

A soft moan brought him from his daze. Looking up at the boy in the bed he wondered why no one had told him anything about his condition. Slowly Edward's eyes opened enough to see him.

"What are you doing here bastard?" Ed slowly turned onto his right side to look at the man sitting there. " Shouldn't you be in the office doing paperwork?" Roy smirked.

"Normally yes. But seeing as I was the one to find you in such a state it only seemed right for it to be me watching over you while you were in the hospital. As much of a pain as you are I still care about my subordinates, and that includes you as much as I hate to admit it." Roy paused for a moment "Now Fullmetal. Please explain why I wasn't informed about your condition. Did you honestly think I wouldn't find out about it sooner or later?"

Edward lay there trying to think of an excuse but he couldn't come up with one. Not with the colonel looking at him like that. It was almost like the bastard actually cared. Figures. The man wouldn't look like that if it were something minor like a cold or anything of the sort. He only cared about him if it would put him out of commission. Without Edward

The colonel would be forced to do actual work for once.

"What does it matter to you anyway? It's not like you would help me with it…knowing you you would be more likely to mock me for being weak." Edward set his gaze to the foot of his bed. "You only care about me if it's something that'll hinder you success." Slowly he turned his view to the man next to him. "Don't even bother to try denying it. Everyone that works under your command help push you to your goal. Yet you don't even bother to think that maybe there are other people with dreams to. It's just you you you. That's all you care about isn't it!"

Roy was at a loss for words. What brought this on? Normally the boy would've blown it up in his face. Instead here he was just slightly raising his voice. It really put Roy off. "Where did all of this come from?"

Edward suddenly realized what he was saying and promptly became extremely quiet. He didn't want people to know about his hope. It was foolish to think anyone other than Al, Winry, and Riza would care enough to stop themselves from laughing at the though of it. The great Full Metal Alchemist wanted to be a singer. If Ed so decided to even let this hope. No dream. Become known to Roy mustang it would cause him to be the laughingstock of central as well as any surrounding city or town. It was too much to risk. Yet that was the only thing to amuse him right now so he let it all flow from his mind into words coming from his mouth. " Roy. I know this is going to sound really stupid but I have a dream that I can't make real…not on my own at least." Edward almost felt like kicking himself for what he was about to do. " I want to sing. Not like in a karaoke bar or anything. I'm talking on stage with people traveling from other cities just to se me. Stupid I know isn't it? But do you think you could help me with this one last thing?"

He couldn't believe that the Full metal alchemist had just said that….the boy was either yelling or moping or something like that but **Singing**?

"Edward. I-"


	3. Chapter 3

"Ed. I-" Roy was caught completely off guard with this one. "I'm A: flattered that you would share this information with me, B: slightly amused for you to have a hope like that and C: glad to help you with this. I'll agree that you as well as everyone else has helped push me to the top and I might as well help you with something again. To be honest it's been slightly boring what with everything being so quiet in the office. So sure why not."

Was he really hearing this? Was Roy actually agreeing to help him become famous? It sounded far too out of place in Edwards mind. "Are you serious? You're actually going to help me again?"

"Sure why not? Its not like there's going to be anything interesting happening in the near future." Roy sighed. "But if you don't mind me asking why the interest in singing? I mean you've never even so much as hummed a tune or anything. Why the sudden interest?"

"I used to always sing. But with being in the military and all singing isn't useful. I mean what am I supposed to do? Sing while I'm fighting and deplete the amount of air I need to keep myself alive?" Ed said making Roy feel slightly incompetent for not thinking of it so he explained it a bit more. "It's sorta started when my mother died. She used to sing to Al and I before we went to sleep. Al couldn't sleep without hearing the sound of singing. So I would sing to him."

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you care to join me for wobbly-pops?"

"Wobbly-pops?" Ed asked, "What the hell is that? And what does it have to do with anything we were talking about?"

"Wobbly-pops. Go to the boozer…go to the Bar for beer Edward. It'll help you relax"

"Then why didn't you just say so?" Edward started to get off the hospital bed.

"…Ummm Edward? I hope you plan on putting a shirt on before we leave…some pants would be nice too." Said Roy as the boys gown fell off causing Edward to look down at his body.

"WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?" Ed screamed leaping back into the bed while frantically trying to cover himself, "Why am I not wearing anything?"

"You see Edward when they admitted you they needed to make sure they could get to your arm if the need came up." Roy tried not to smirk at the boys dismay but couldn't help but laugh. Edward being as mortified as he was hardly even noticed that he was being laughed at until Roy started becoming hysterical.

"Don't laugh at me! Why do you people feel the need to laugh at my expense?" Edward couldn't help but be embarrassed. Honestly who wouldn't be were they in the same situation?


	4. Chapter 4

Roy's POV

_I don't see why he's so embarrassed. I mean his body is perfectly fine. The only thing he could possibly be embarrassed about is his automail, and I know he isn't embarrassed about that._

"Edward you shouldn't be so embarrassed. I mean it's not like I don't know what a body looks like. I have one just like it. Besides we're both adults, there's no shame."

Edward simply ignored me. As he started to put his clothes back on I could see his arm was still hurting him. "I didn't quite get the chance to read you medical report. Would you mind telling me a bit more about it? The doctors were too busy to even bother with explaining." I felt foolish asking the question but all the while he was asleep I couldn't stop thinking about it.

" It's a condition where my brain is still receiving signals of sensation from the nerves in my arm. Somehow though the sensations I feel aren't normal sensations of warm or cool. It's pain. It's hard to explain. Usually it only happens for the first few months after the automail is installed, but what with all the new stress about Al's safety I've been stressing out a lot and that just makes the symptoms worse. It hadn't really made much a difference before. But yeah."

Edward hated talking about his PLS (phantom Limb Syndrome) to people. It made him feel weak. Well now it was out and soon enough everyone in the office will know about it. So he would probably need to explain it at least 20 times again unless Roy could shut the hell up and not tell everyone.

"Don't worry too much about it Edward. I'm not about to tell everyone in Amestris about this. It could give people ideas that they can attack you and I don't want to deal with a bunch of civilians getting the shit beaten out of them." Roy said truthfully.

"Shut up. Let's get going. I hate these hospitals." Ed said while he headed out the door of the room he was in. Quietly he started to hum a tune he had once heard an Isbalan beggar woman singing in central. It was a slightly religious song, and even though he wasn't religious it still held meaning to him.

By the water 

_The water of Bethlehem_

_We lay down and wept _

_And wept for thee xion_

_We remember_

_We remember_

_We remember _

_Thee xion_

It reminded him that even as time goes on it's still okay to be sad about things that have happened in the past. He knew a few songs like this but he knew more of the songs that no one ever really wanted to hear…(only by the sheer fact that the girls down the hall from his office would always play the same music everyday only god knew what had subconsciously engraved into his mind…. luckily the noise ended quickly seeing as he got permission to soundproof his office after numerous songs had gotten stuck in his head (he tended to write the words on the papers in front of him and seeing as these were usually reports. Roy really didn't find the words to "Elmer's tune" very amusing when the report started about buildings that had been sacrificed to Edward).

Suddenly Edward noticed he wasn't the only one humming the tune…Roy had joined him. "How do you know that song?" Ed asked.

"My mom used to sing it to me at night…. looking back on it that's not a really good song for a lullaby is it? But either way it got me to sleep." Roy turned the corner leading out of the hospital and the two started down the street to the bar. "Where did you learn the song, Edward?" he asked

"I learned it from an Ishbalan woman. She was begging outside the library, so I decided to sit with her for a while and she taught the song to me." Edward responded, "It was nice to talk with her. She had a lot to share with me about her life during the war, and you know what? She doesn't hate the military. She actually thinks that people like you did the right thing, trying to make things better. What was it like? How did it all make you feel?"

"That Edward requires me to be completely drunk before I tell you about such things. It isn't the kind of topic to talk about right now."

Two hours later (at the bar)

"Y'know whut Royyy…..thosse girlsss down the hall from usshed let me borrow ssshome of their recordssh, and d'ya sssheeeee that micraphone o'er there?" Roy looked in the direction the intoxicated boy was pointing and saw nothing but a blank area of floor with a gramophone standing on a stool.

"Yes Edward I see the microphone. Why do you ask?" Roy asked not entirely expecting Ed to actually be drunk enough to sing in a bar that wasn't even one of those new karaoke bars.

"Well you sssssssssleeee I know a ssssshlong that is just perfect for you…what with you becoming fuehrer and all" Ed walked over to the gramaphone and sorted through the Records in the box by the stool until he found the perfect one. Spike Jones Orch's "In The Fuhrer's Face". He put the disk on to turntable and let the music start.

When Der Fuehrer says, "We ist der master race"  
We HEIL! HEIL! Right in Der Fuehrer's face  
Not to love Der Fuehrer is a great disgrace  
So we HEIL! HEIL! Right in Der Fuehrer's face  
When Herr Gobbels says, "We own der world und space"  
We HEIL! HEIL! Right in Herr Goring's face  
When Herr Goring says they'll never bomb this place  
We HEIL! HEIL! Right in Herr Goring's face

Are we not the supermen  
Aryan pure supermen  
Ja we ist der supermen  
Super-duper supermen  
Ist this Nutzi land not good?  
Would you leave it if you could?  
Ja this Nutzi land is good!  
Vee would leave it if we could

We bring the world to order  
Heil Hitler's world New Order  
Everyone of foreign race will love Der Fuehrer's face  
When we bring to der world disorder

When Der Fuehrer says, "We ist der master race"  
We HEIL! HEIL! Right in Der Fuehrer's face  
When Der Fuehrer says, "We ist der master race"  
We HEIL! HEIL! Right in Der Fuhrer's face

(A.N. Im sorry for putting this song in here but it just fit what with everything, and don't say I don't care about jewish people…I told all my jewish friends about this part of the fic and they all burst into fits of laughing so I took that as it would be okay to put it in…for the most part at least)

Roy was totally in shock from what he was hearing….was that really the kids voice? Well he wasn't much of a kid now but it was still bizarre to hear such smooth notes flowing from Edwards mouth. The boy was amazing even when he was plastered. If the kid was this good drunk he could hardly imagine what he would sound like when he was sober.

Edward bent into a bow while he beamed with delight hearing the clapping from the men at the bar. Who knew that a noise like that could make you feel so happy.


	5. Chapter 5

When the young blonde started heading over to the dark haired man the only thing anyone could think of was "who the hell was that?" or " whoa what a good set of pipes"

Either way people were surprised and somehow felt compelled to give applause to the young man.

"So Mr. Mustang. What do'ya think? Is my voice worty of you efforts to help me to my goal?" Edwards slurring was starting to fade and it was obvious that the alcohol was starting to lose its effects on the boy.

"That…that was amazing. I've never heard something as amazing as that…interesting choice of song I must admit but otherwise you've proved yourself to be worthy of my efforts." Roy tried not to show that he was almost going into a sort of fan boy mode over the amazing ness of the young alchemists voice. Suddenly Edward got an extremely glazed look on his face and he quietly muttered "Roy. I'm tired…can you take me home so I can sleep?"

"Oh sure" Roy snapped out of his 'I'm a conniving evil bastard' mode. The fact that the kid was drunk didn't change the fact that he was a kid, it was acceptable from him.

As the two were heading out the door a man with sandy blond hair, a dark suit and sunglasses walked up to the pair. Once they noticed him they turned and he introduced himself. "Hello. My name is James Bracken. I couldn't help but notice the amazing voice of your son si-" the man started

"He's not my son." Interrupted Roy

"My apologies sir. I was wondering if you two might be interested in coming to my office so I might be able to help you pursue a singing career. His voice truly is amazing. It would be a pity to waste it on simply talking." James passed a business card to Roy.

"I'll talk to him about it when he's sober. All right? I think we might take you up on you generous offer."

Ed POV

Two months have passed since that night at the bar…it's amazing how far Roy has helped me come. I mean, two months after first being found and I'm already at me first concert. Who would've thought it would be so easy. I thought for sure I would have some problems.

Roy's sitting across the room from me on the other loveseat seeing as I'm taking up all the room on this one. He was tapping his pen on the table…which was making me feel sorta' twitchy. I looked at the clock, half an hour left 'till the concert starts. I can feel the stress building up…it's not much but it's there. I look up to face the man sitting across from me…I remember back to the times when we hated each other… it was funny really. After I got Al's body back he started to hang out with Winry in Rizenbul. (A.N. not sure if I spelled that right. Sorry if I didn't) so I found myself wandering around the city aimlessly. Eventually running into someone I knew, usually it would only involve a short conversation, but the one time I ran into Roy he offered to treat me to a drink. After that we became rather close. He could always make me laugh. I'd never really noticed how funny my rants were until he imitated me doing one. Mind you at the time we were both rather drunk…not to the point where we couldn't talk without slurring or anything…just a bit tipsy.

Then after my PLS started to act up again he was one of the first to come to help me get over it. The attacks don't come so often anymore usually it's just some mild pain anything more than that unless I'm really stressed out or scared. We've come a long way from hating each other, and I'm glad to have someone I can actually call a friend.

Roy looks up at me with the usual look on his face. The one that says 'I know you've been staring at me…what's going on?' I smile.

"You're a good friend, you know that?" he gives me a funny look.

"Don't tell me you're getting sentimental. You've got your first concert in less then fifteen minutes. We can't have you crying over how good of a friend I am." He laughs


	6. Chapter 6

Ed POV

I look out at the crowd in front of the stage. There aren't many people but it's a fair amount…I would guess there to be at least two hundred people watching me.

I step closer towards the microphone hoping I don't make a fool of myself by doing this. I hear the music start…it's an odd sensation hearing something you made being played for everyone to hear. Then I open my mouth as the vocals start.

"Kagayaku sekai ga kono te ni afure

Kagirinai toki wo daite

Boku wa susundeku

Tooku kara kaze ga fuite

Nagareru kumo wo miageteru

Furikaeru nante dekinai

Kioku no naka no nukumori

Fuan ni makesou na kokoro

Nugisutete mata aruiteku

Hontou wa tomadoi nagara

Nani ka wo sagashi-tsuzuketa

Yoake wa kanarazu

Yattekuru kara

Doko ka de kikoeteru koe ga

Tooku michishirube no you sa

Narihibiku kodou ga mezamete

Motometeru yo

Mada minu ashita wo machi-tsuzukeru

Tsumetai kaze nanka ja

Boku wo tomerarenai

Kagayaku sekai ga kono te ni afure

Kagirinai toki wo daite

Boku wa susundeku

Utsuriyuku toki wa sugite

Umareta machi no kaze no oto

Mimi wo sumashite mo kikoenai

Dare no mune ni mo nemutteru

Jounetsu no hi wo kesanaide

Moetsukiru made wa aruiteku

Hontou wa samayoi nagara

Nani ka wo nakushi-tsuzuketa

Yoake wo tashika ni

Shinjiteita

Moshi mo ikitsuita basho ga

Motometa mono to chigatte mo

Mata hajime kara yarinaosu sa

Tsukameru made

Ryoute wo kazashite koboretekuru

Kasuka na hikari dake ga

Bokura mezasu basho

Mada minu ashita wo machi-tsuzukeru

Tsumetai kaze nanka ja

Boku wo tomerarenai

Kagayaku sekai ga kono te ni afure

Kagirinai toki wo daite

Boku wa susundeku

Ryoute wo kazashite koboretekuru

Kasuka na hikari dake ga

Bokura mezasu basho

Ryoute wo hirogete uketomeru..."

Everyone is quiet for a moment, off in the distance I suddenly hear coming out from the silence a girls voice.

"Holy Shit" I grin as the voice is drowned by cheers.


	7. author note

I apologize to those of you who I gave the wrong song title the song from the last chapter is called "Ashita e no Basho" and it's from the hagaren song files…. yeah….


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